A Sacramento County judge has tossed out a lawsuit that would have forced the city of Sacramento to put an initiative on the ballot that would let voters decide if the city should subsidize a new downtown arena.

Attorney Brad Hertz confirmed that STOP would join Voters for a Fair Arena Deal in not going forward with the lawsuit that asked the court to force the city to put the initiative on the ballot after its petitions were rejected by the city clerk.

A representative for Voters for a Fair Arena Deal said earlier Thursday it would not continue to pursue legal action.

The groups sued the city after thousands of signatures that would have forced the city to seek voter approval of the $258 million subsidy were thrown out.

On Wednesday, Sacramento County judge Timothy Frawley threw out the lawsuit, ruling that the errors made on the petition undermined the "integrity of the electoral process."

During a legal hearing last week, Hertz admitted that there "were sloppy, inadvertent mistakes" with the petitions, but he said the errors shouldn't keep voters from having a say in making a decision on the use of public subsidies to build a new arena.

Construction crews are expected to break ground on the new arena in the fall.

Must-see artist sketches of Downtown Sacramento arena

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Sacramento Kings

Downtown artist rendering

The Sacramento Kings have released the following artist renderings of the sports and entertainment complex being built in downtown Sacramento. (Nov. 26, 2014)

ONE HURDLE FOR THE DOWNTOWN SACRAMENTO ARENA APPEARS TO BE CLEARED AFTER A JUDGE SHOT DOWN THE ATTEMPTED PUBLIC VOTE ON THE PROJECT. BUT DOES THAT MEAN REALLY SMOOTH SAILING FROM HERE? TOM DUHAIN IS DOWNTOWN. THE ANSWER IS PARTIALLY DEPENDING ON WHO YOU TALK WITH. THE ARENA PROPONENTS SAY THE LAST MAJOR HURDLE IS NOW OUT OF THE WAY. AND THEY BELIEVE IT SHOULD BE RELATIVELY SMOOTH SAILING TO OPEN A BRAND-NEW ARENA BEHIND THE 7TH STREET HERE IN 2017. HOWEVER, THERE IS AT LEAST ONE ATTORNEY IN TOWN WHO IS PROMISING A NEW OBSTACLE. A LEGAL ATTEMPT TO LITERALLY FREEZE THE DEAL. PROPONENTS BELIEVE THE 448 MILLION DOLLAR PROJECT IS NOW BACK ON THE FAST TRACK NOW THAT THE ATTEMPTED PUBLIC VOTE HAS BEEN STOPPED. GLAD TO BE ABLE TO BE MOVING FORWARD AND HOPEFULLY THE SIGNALS A CHANCE TO WORK TOGETHER AND TO WEIGH THE BENEFITS FOR THE CITY. THE SCHEDULE SHOWS HEARINGS IN MARCH ON SEVERAL ARENA ISSUES. IN APRIL, THE CITY COUNCIL GIVES FINAL APPROVAL TO THE PROJECT. IN JUNE, DEMOLITION BEGINS. AND THEN SOMETIME THIS FALL, CONSTRUCTION BEGINS AT THE DOWNTOWN PLAZA. BUT THERE ARE TWO LAWSUITS PENDING. ONE IS THE CITY'S EMINENT DOMAIN ACTION TO BUY THE FORMER MACY'S MEN STORE. THAT WILL BE SETTLED WITHOUT A STRUCT IN THE PROJECT YEAR BUT ANOTHER LAWSUIT AGAINST THE CITY CLAIMS THE DEAL IS AN ILLEGAL GET THE FUNDS BY GIVING THE TEAM UNDERVALUED LAND PLUS SIGNAGE AND PARKING RENTS. FRAUD BY GROSSLY NEGATIVE GALLANTLY OR CONSPIRING AFFIRMATIVELY TO PROVIDING VALUABLE CITY ASSETS TO THE SACRAMENTO LEADERSHIP TEAM THAT BOUGHT THE TEAM. ANDERSON'S FIRM HAS A POSTOP CITY LEADERS AND THEY WILL TRY TO LEGALLY FREEZE THE ARENA DEAL SOMETIME IN APRIL. IF THIS THING CONTINUES TO SAIL ALONG THE WAY IT IS, WE WILL BE GOING TO COURT AND ASKING THE JUDGE TO JOIN US HERE IN THAT IS BASED ON THE PROVABLE ALLEGATIONS OF FRAUD, PROVABLE ALLEGATIONS OF GIFT OF PUBLIC FUNDS. ANDERSON SAYS HE DOES NOT WANT TO KILL THE ARENA DEAL. AND HE WANTS IT TO BE PUBLICLY EXPOSED. IN THE MEANTIME, THE CITY SAYS ANDERSON IS SADLY WRONG. ANY ASSETS THOMAS TO THE KINGS AS PART OF DEVELOPMENT HAVE BEEN VALUED AT FULLY ACCOUNTED FOR. HOW SIGNIFICANT THIS OBSTACLE MAY BE REMAINS TO BE BEST READ -- APPEARS TO REMAIN SEEN.